Power by accident: The Sharingan
by Xirin
Summary: Hyūga Hinata has been seen as the weakest clan member and a failure when she meets a mysterious dark-haired boy who is willing to help her.
1. Part 1 – Only light in my darkness

**Power by accident: The Sharingan**

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 _Hyūga Hinata has been seen as the weakest clan member and a failure when she meets a mysterious dark-haired boy who is willing to help her._

 **A/N: This is a story part of my series, where I add some of the characters an additional power and see how it changes the world.**

 **I am going to warn you already. Hinata is young but she is mentally sick due to childhood abuse by her family. Some of the events are not going to be healthy. Well, most of them to be exact.**

 **My writing style usually includes a little situational humor, however, in this story this humor became a little... dark.. The story contains swearing, violence, and sexual situations. Nothing very explicit, though. You have been warned.**

 **I have never before published any of my works, but I thought that if there is a chance that someone gets even a little joy of this, it is worth it. So try to enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby.**

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Part 1 – Only light in my darkness

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6-year old Hyūga Hinata was a complete failure. She had known it already for a while, it was clear because of how everyone acted around her. Today, however, was the first time when it was said straight to her face. By her father no less. It wasn't a surprise after she had let Hanabi beat her in a battle because of her gentleness.

" _Hinata. I am most disappointed with you. Today you showed me something I have known for a long time but never wanted to believe: you are a failure. I don't know what to do anymore. I have no choice but make Hanabi my successor. That means you will be going to the Shinobi Academy like a regular branch member. Now get out of my sight."_

" _Yes, father."_

She was crying alone in the public training field far from the village. Not because she has to go to the Academy; that she waited, but because there were no one who believed she was unable to do anything. She started to hit a training post with an uncharacteristic fury which of course didn't help when using Jūken, but at least, it released some pressure.

She collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion. Her hands were sweaty and bruised. She watched the darkening sky through her half-lidded eyes. She wished she could just vanish so she wouldn't be on everyone's way. _Think about Naruto-kun. He would never quit like this. He defended me against those bullies then, even if it was against all odds..._

 _But he needed to defend you, you who has the ultimate eyes? How pathetic is that?_ The image of the blonde Uzumaki faded against a strong wave of desperation. She rose like a zombie.

"I am never going to be anything", she repeated out loud, not that she thought anyone was listening.

"Why do you think that?" asked a voice of a boy from the darkness of trees.

Hinata flinched. "W-who a-are you?" she asked timidly and fearfully.

"My name is not important. Answer my question."

An 11-year old boy with long, dark hair, fair skin, and charcoal eyes entered the clearing. He was wearing black and he was clearly a shinobi. He was currently giving Hinata his full attention and that made him the most beautiful creature in the universe in Hinata's socially starved mind.

Hinata looked ground feeling shame. "I am weak. My family and my teachers gave up on me because of that. I am the first main family member ever to go to the Shinobi Academy because of that."

He stared at her. The girl was six. The shinobi world was cruel indeed.

"Get up."

Hinata's eyes widened but she fumbled up and stood in front of him.

"Fight me."

Hinata hesitated.

"You don't want to waste your time fighting me..."

"Then defend yourself."

He attacked relentlessly. She activated her Byakugan and defended as much she could. He was good. He was a ninja of course, but as a Hyūga, she noticed that he was much better than an ordinary 11-year old should have been.

Their hands hit and kicks were blocked furiously. Both faces were focused on each other's. It all ended when Hinata made a mistake and gave him an obvious opening. She ended up against a tree and he held a kunai against her throat while she was panting harshly. She stared at the stranger's eyes fearlessly, still feeling adrenaline from the battle. It was a foreign situation for her since no one in the Hyūga compound ever sparred with a kunai.

"There are no major errors in your fighting. Your self-confidence and gentleness, however, affects your battle morale. I also see your physique is different from an average Hyūga. Jūken will never be your optimal fighting style."

Hinata stared in awe but her face fell when he finished. "So my father was right..."

He didn't answer.

Hinata turned to leave so she wouldn't bother him any further. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"If you promise me to become strong, I will help you."

Hinata's desperate expression turned to a small smile. At that moment, she could have given that boy anything he asked, he had promised to make her worth something after all.

"I promise."

"Good. We will be meeting here a day after tomorrow at the same time. I believe it is not wise for you to advertise these meetings to your clan."

Hinata looked puzzled but nodded. He nodded as well and turned to leave.

"Wait...? Could you now tell me your name?" Hinata pleaded. It was weird to meet someone whose name you didn't know.

"Itachi. Uchiha, Itachi."

It felt familiar.

"Thank you, Itachi-sensei. My name is Hinata."

"Very well, Hinata-san."

They left to their own compounds, Itachi puzzled and Hinata pleased that there was one person in a world who noticed her and gave her his time.

"We will focus on taijutsu and the physical exercises for now since your chakra capacity is still very small. I believe your clan specializes in different chakra control techniques so you should utilize those on your own time."

Hinata watched him in awe. He was so much more beautiful than she remembered. And all those points he showed that never occurred to her.

Itachi continued: "I will teach you our clan taijutsu style which is all about speed and agility. You will, however, learn to combine it to your Jūken and direct most of the strikes to the tenketsu to maximize the damage to the internal organs. You must promise me that you will never use this style alone, I technically am not allowed to teach this."

Hinata was exhilarated. Itachi-sensei was breaking rules for her! She nodded and took her stance.

"Now, copy my movements."

Itachi was an active ninja of Konoha so he wasn't able to train her often, but he compensated that by giving her a lot of tips how to train by herself. So she trained like a madman. The promise to Itachi was giving her a motivation much higher than ever before in her life.

Her previous motivation – Uzumaki Naruto – had forgotten and replaced by her dark-haired sensei. He had become her obsession and to be honest her reason to live. She dreamed of Itachi, when she woke up she thought of him. His face was on her mind when she trained and he was the last thought in her mind when she fell asleep.

It was the first day of the Academy. She arrived there with her cousin Neji, who was at the Academy too. He snorted her and left her alone as soon as they arrived. She noticed many semi-known faces in a crowd, most were with their parents.

Naruto was there, the pink-haired girl she had seen in town every now and then, a boy with dark glasses, a boy with a pure white dog on his head... Her gaze stopped when she saw her sensei. She almost screamed with joy but stopped herself when she realized he was with his clansman: a smiling dark-haired boy in a shirt with a fan on the back. Was he Itachi's brother? They had never talked about their families. She suddenly realized how little she knew of him.

Itachi's eyes met Hinata's for a second. His expression didn't waver, but the intensity of his gaze told her he had noticed her. She felt delighted and watched intently him go. He turned and left the Academy with the other escorting family members while the new Academy students strolled inside the school building. The smaller Uchiha looked her direction looking slightly suspicious, but probably decided it was nothing and ran inside enthusiastically.

Their new sensei was a fresh chūnin called Umino Iruka. He seemed to be nice and a good teacher, who however had no time to Hinata since a couple of difficult students needed his attention more. So her minor mental problems were ignored and she became the student who was always there but never present. She was pretty sure most of the fellow students didn't even know she was there and this was ok for her.

Two of the students, however, noticed her – Uchiha Sasuke, as the Itachi's clansman turned out to be – clearly watched her regularly. It was expected as the Hyūga and the Uchiha had been rivaling clans for a long time. He never contacted her however since he mostly seemed to hang out with his nameless Uchiha cousin who was in the Academy too.

Another one who noticed her was Aburame Shino, the boy with the glasses. He never talked too much but kept her company during lunch breaks which she was thankful for. They were not friends exactly, more like allies, but it was better than nothing.

The first month in the Academy was over and she was rushing to her weekly meeting with Itachi smiling widely on that sunny Friday afternoon. She was fiddling some shurikens in her kunai pouch strapped on her left leg – they would train her projectiles today and she was absolutely thrilled.

She arrived their clearing only to notice Itachi passed out in the middle of what seemed a combination of exhaustion and a mild kunai wound. It was so hard to Hinata to remember that Itachi was still a child himself too by the way he acted and the way she saw him. It was horrible to see him bloodied and dead to the world. She started to clean his wounds and treat them with her home-made cream that she always carried with her and bandage him. After that, she moved him to the shadow of a tree.

Hinata would have wanted to take him to the hospital, but she was sure Itachi wouldn't have wanted her to take him there because of something this small. So she was waiting for him to wake up and started throwing shurikens while doing that.

It was already evening when she herself was too tired to continue. Itachi had yet to wake up so she sat beside him. Her tiredness however overcame and she soon fell asleep right next to him.

 _When he woke up it was already night. How long was he passed out? It was midday when he had started training. He noticed the bandages and soon after that sleeping Hinata next to him. He smiled, she looked very cute while sleeping. He observed the training ground which was full of shuriken marks like it had been raining them. So she trained herself. Very good, Hinata._

It was, however, a little tricky how to get her home. She was only 7 so she should have already been sleeping in her room and definitely not sleeping in the forest with 5 years older boy. Waking her up would only harm her so he decided that the simplest approach would be the best. He inserted his ANBU mask, raised her bridal style and carried her to the gates of Hyūga compound.

The Hyūga guards were a little astonished seeing an ANBU guard carrying their princess but when he explained that she was found on the training grounds after harsh training, they took her in without further questions. It was time for him to return to his clan compound too.

Hinata opened her eyes only to notice she was in her own room.

"So you are finally awake."

It was her father. This was bad. Hinata rose in her bed and turned to look at him impassively.

"Care to explain why were you carried to the compound by an ANBU guard after midnight?" Hiashi interrogated her not giving her time to wake up properly.

 _ANBU guard? They were those ninjas with masks._ She had never seen Itachi wearing such attire, but she had to admit she didn't know if Itachi was one or not. Who else would have brought as insignificant a person as her home, though?

She decided to tell the truth... or part of it at least.

"I was training to exhaustion. Then I fell asleep", Hinata explained carefully waiting for her father's disappointment.

Hiashi seemed to have heard what he expected to hear since he rose to leave. "Very well. That sounds like a slight improvement. Don't get caught next time, though."

Hinata's eyes widened. It was almost a compliment. Too bad she only wanted those from Itachi these days. But still.

She hurried out of bed, ate breakfast in a hurry and rushed to their training grounds.

Itachi was there too. It was surprising since he usually had clan related duties on Saturdays. He looked as graceful as always and she watched in awe.

He finally noticed her staring and turned to smile at her. She rushed at him and launched herself at him hugging him tightly.

"Itachi Itachi Itachi..."

His eyes widened a little.

"Shhh, Hinata... I am here."

"I was so worried when you didn't wake up and I didn't know if I should have taken you to a hospital and what if you have died? You are the only light in my life, Itachi, and I cannot live without you..."

His eyes widened even more. Nobody had ever given such a confession to him. Sure he had some crazy fangirls, but none of them were actually meaning anything they said. He hugged her closer and let Hinata rest her head on his shoulder.

"You did very well Hinata and I am thankful. Did you got any problems at home?"

She shook her head.

"Father asked why I was carried home by ANBU guard and I told him I trained. He told me not to get caught next time", she explained.

"Good. I don't want you to be abused by your family ever again. I'm going to be with you somehow from this day on", he assured whispering to her ear.

There were tears in Hinata's eyes.

"Itachi! I am so happy I have you!"

"Me too Hinata, me too."

They trained today her projectiles just like they were supposed to a day ago.

It was about three months before Hinata's eighth birthday when she met Itachi (who had recently turned 13) on their training grounds as they normally did. She noticed right away that he was a little out of touch today so she went to ask him if she could help somehow. She hated to see her most important person sad.

He took her for a hug, which was special since usually it was normally her who hugged him first.

"Itachi? Is everything ok?" she asked concerned.

"Mmm. There are small troubles within the clan. Not anything you need to worry about, Hinata."

"Are you sure? I want to help so you can be happy."

"I am happy whenever I am with you, you know that" he smiled at her. She couldn't but smile back. His smile was absolutely perfect and the most beautiful thing she knew.

"Then you have nothing to be concerned about! I am going to be with you until we die!" Hinata declared, as eight-year-olds usually do to things.

His eyes widened. He had not got used to her blatant confessions of her affections at all during the two years they had spent training together. He knew that Hinata was very young but she was abnormally attached to him due to a childhood trauma. He himself was not very much healthier due expectations of his father and early career as a shinobi, which had made him attach himself to her as well.

"Hinata, I wish to protect you even if I cannot someday be there physically. Do you trust me Hinata?" he asked with a surprisingly steady voice.

"Hai, I trust you with my life."

"Good."

He brought up to pieces of paper with a peculiar design in them. He pressed one above his heart and other on Hinata. The identical figures appeared to their skin just above their hearts. He took a kunai and sliced their palms enough to bring up blood. Hinata watched wide-eyed but never complained.

He brought her palm to his heart and pressed his against hers. Hinata thought that this felt much more intimate than anything they had ever done before, but not distressing. They watched each other's eyes intently.

"Hinata, I wish to be with you until we die too."

Hinata gasped. "Itachi..."

"Channel some of your chakra to your palm Hinata..." he guided her as he did the same and formed half a hand seal with his other hand.

" **Seal!** "

The figures on their chests reacted to blood and chakra making Hinata gasp and faint. Itachi panted harshly but stayed conscious. The figures on their chests faded quickly. He brought her up, gave her a little kiss on her forehead and carried her to a training ground closer to town before rushing to his meeting with his cousin Shisui.

Hinata was found and woken up by a chūnin who guided her home. She told Hinata that she was Kurenai Yuhi and that she would help Hinata to train safely if she ever needed help. Hinata thought this was very nice.

The week in Academy went ok and on Friday, she rushed to their clearing to wait. Itachi, however, didn't show up so she practiced Itachi's taijutsu katas until the sky darkened. She went home and thought about Itachi even more than usual before she fell asleep.

Hinata was leaning her head on her desk while waiting for Iruka-sensei to start his lecture. It wasn't until Uchiha Sasuke stepped inside the classroom when the students started to gossip. Sasuke looked blank and annoyed and clearly didn't want to talk to anybody.

"Did you already hear? There was a massacre at the Uchiha compound last Friday night. Sasuke-kun was the only survivor."

"Oh, my Kami. That is horrible! Did they know who did it?"

"No. Is there anyone in the village even who would be powerful enough to murder a whole clan on one night?"

Hinata listened the rumors terrified. _All the Uchihas are dead, except Sasuke... That means..._ She couldn't help herself but let an unidentified noise that was something between a scream and sob and escaped the classroom. She bumped on Iruka who was coming in but never apologized as she rushed out sobbing.

Sasuke watched at her incredulously.

"What happened to Hinata?" asked Iruka the class.

"We don't know. We were talking about the massacre and she became like that."

"Well, Hinata is from the Hyūga clan that is in many ways similar to the Uchiha. It could terrify anyone to realize it could have happened to them", Iruka analyzed. "Now, we will use some time today to discuss last Friday's events so there will not rise weird rumors or irrational fears about this. Does anyone has questions...?"

Hinata was sitting in the middle of their training grounds pressing her hand on her heart where she knew their seal was. Or had been. She didn't know if it was still there.

"Itachi..." she sobbed while trying to deal with his death. Had he known he was going to die? _Hinata, I wish to protect you even if I cannot someday be there physically._ That sounded like the seal was still there. That calmed Hinata down a lot.

Her motivation and the light of her darkness was gone, but she couldn't just give up. Itachi had told her he wanted to protect her and she couldn't let his work go vain. She needed to strive even harder to grow strong and let Itachi be proud of her in afterlife.

The only issue was his brother, Sasuke. Hinata had never liked him very much, but he was the same blood as Itachi and Itachi had clearly cared about him. There was only one course of action. She would dedicate her life to protect Sasuke. And so she swore hand on her seal that the last living Uchiha would live as long as there was air in her lungs.


	2. Part 2 – I only live to protect you

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby.**

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Part 2 – I only live to protect you

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It became the day of their graduation. She had taken Naruto back as a source of motivation but haven't developed a crush on him or anyone else. She had focused on becoming strong and very strong she was. No one knew it though because of her skill in blending in.

She had passed her exam with fine grades and her father had nodded her approvingly as parents congratulated their passed children.

Naruto had not passed and that made Hinata sad, but there was nothing she could do. She noticed Mizuki-sensei talked to him while others were congratulated. They were told that the team appointment would be in a week and their duties as official ninjas would start then.

When Hinata heard this she hurried straight to see the Hokage for the first time in her life. She needed to get to the team where she could watch Sasuke. It would not be easy since he has an incredibly large group of brainless fangirls wanting the same position.

She knocked the door and got in once she was allowed to go. He was sitting at his desk surrounded by giant paper mountains. There was a masked ninja with silver hair that looked like a scarecrow there too.

"Mmm?" the Third looked a little astonished once the little Hyūga princess and a fresh Konoha shinobi walked in. "Well, well. What issue did you wish to talk me about, Hyūga-san?"

"Hokage-sama", she greeted politely and bowed as one should when speaking to Hokage. "I am informed that the new genin teams are going to be appointed next week. I am going to go straight to the point: I need to be appointed to the same team as Uchiha Sasuke" she explained as monotonously and neutrally as she could.

Masked ninja raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Third chuckled good-naturedly. "Well, well. I didn't think you to be young Sasuke's admirer as well, young Hyūga-san..."

Hinata intercepted: "Hokage-sama, you understand incorrectly. I assure I have no improper... fascination towards Sasuke-san. No. I am requesting this because I am the only kunoichi in our Academy class who seems to be able to be professional with him."

Masked ninja watched her in awe.

"Hyūga-san. There has never been a genin team in Konoha history combining Hyūga and the Uchiha. What you ask is very hard to carry out."

"I don't care. Sasuke-san deserves a chance to form normal bonds to his teammates without disturbing fangirling inside the team. You will arrange him a chance to do that" Hinata declared with finality in her voice.

"Very well, Hyūga-san. Your request has been noted."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Hinata bowed and retreated the office.

Third chuckled at Hatake Kakashi's incredulous expression. "The young Hyūga takes after his father more than Hiashi ever admits, don't you think?"

"Mmm. She seems to have a strong personality. Not everyone has balls to come threatening _Hokage_ at the age 12."

"All her Academy reports tells her to be very shy... She will be a very interesting case in the future, I believe."

And so it became the time of the team appointments. Hinata was very happy to notice that Naruto had managed to graduate somehow, and was now beaten down by fangirls after accidentally kissing Sasuke.

She heard Shikamaru Nara muttering something like "Troublesome..." behind her and continuing to explain Ino that there were not any real chances for her to get to the same team as Sasuke because of Ino-Shika-Chō -combination.

Iruka-sensei stepped to the class bandaged like he had been in a battle but explained nothing. He started to read teams on his papers.

"And then team 7: Uchiha Sasuke,"

Sasuke didn't react at all.

"Uzumaki Naruto"

Naruto sank on his desk not looking happy at all.

"and..." Iruka paused, looking the paper like he didn't believe his eyes. "Hyūga Hinata."

All the other girls sighed at their misfortune and started immediately wonder who was Hinata. Sasuke stared at her. She pretended not to notice.

"This is most unexpected. Hyūga and Uchiha are never on the same team", analyzed young Nara to his friend Chōji who nodded while eating his chips.

So, there they were, in a classroom waiting for their sensei. It was apparent that something weird had happened during lunch between Sasuke and Naruto involving Haruno Sakura, but Hinata didn't care about that, to be honest. They waited over two hours before the sensei decided to show up and Hinata noticed that he was the masked nin from the Hokage's office.

"We will meet on the roof", he said and shunshined away.

"So... how about you introduce yourselves?" the masked nin suggested.

"Ne, ne, you go first, sensei!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

"Well, My name is Hatake Kakashi and I have likes and dislikes. My dream is not your business. Oh. And I have a lot of hobbies. You next, blondie."

Naruto looked a little discontent to their sensei's introduction but let it be. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I like ramen! I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook ramen but I like the ramen Iruka-sensei treats even better! My dream is to surpass all the Hokage's and get the whole village respect me!" he exclaimed loudly.

Kakashi sighed. "And hobbies?"

Naruto looked doubtful. "Pranks?"

Kakashi nodded. "Alright. The broody one next."

Sasuke scoffed. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I have very few likes and many dislikes. I have no dream but an ambition: to restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

Hinata thought that was way too angsty even for him but said nothing.

Kakashi didn't seem to be surprised, though. "Very well. Your turn, princess."

"Please don't call me that" Hinata grunted.

"My bad, princess" Kakashi said clearly not planning to stop calling her that.

Hinata scowled. "My name is Hyūga Hinata. I like medical herbs and tea and dislike irrational clan traditions. My hobbies are training and gardening. I have an objective to stop a certain someone from dying..." she explained eyes tightly on Sasuke.

Kakashi thought: "Well, this group is very special..." and continued out loud: "Very well, now we know each other so we can start our duties! Let's meet tomorrow and have some survival exercises! And don't bother to eat breakfast!"

They had been chasing cats and painting fences for a month when Naruto cracked and shouted that they wanted a better mission. So they got one. In Wave. It turned out to be a little more than a normal escort mission when the Demon Brothers attacked but it was certainly out of their league when they fought Momochi Zabuza.

So after arriving Wave they trained. Hinata as a Hyūga (and because of Itachi) of course knew tree-walking already so she was instructed to train her chakra control using the exercises of the Hyūga. It didn't remove the amusement of watching Naruto and Sasuke fail while she sat sideways on her tree meditating. She watched both at the same time with her Byakugan and tried to see further.

Naruto, who had never seen dojutsu before thought her eyes were spooky. Sasuke, who had got used to his clan's Sharingan, of course, had scolded him for that but Hinata was just amused and explained what her eyes did. Naruto had been in awe and admitted he was a little envious, but had delighted when Hinata had told him that he had almost as much chakra as four Kakashi-senseis.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had been very startled because of that. Hinata encouraged him by reminding that maybe he would get his Sharingan someday and even if not, he had a bunch of clan techniques helping him to get strong. This seemed to cheer him up a bit and he continued the tree-climbing.

So the day of the battle at the bridge came. Luckily Zabuza seemed to want to rematch Kakashi, so that left Sasuke to battle Haku and Hinata to protect Tazuna. Sasuke had been surrounded by Haku's ice mirrors when Naruto appeared to the bridge and rushed inside the dome with him. Hinata watched the battle outside with her Byakugan.

They seemed to be at a disadvantage against Haku's speed when Hinata saw Sasuke had gained his Sharingan. She cheered mentally at him. That, however, didn't seem to help – they were going to lose still in the end.

Haku's senbon fastened and it was hard to saw them. Hinata channeled more chakra to her eyes and to her amazement the Byakugan world she saw seemed to slow down and sharpen radically.

That made her notice two things at the same time. One, Haku had fired unbelievable amount of senbon to Naruto. Two, Sasuke had seen that too and reacted automatically trying to take the hit for him.

So Hinata did the only thing she could. She used substitution to Naruto and pushed Sasuke away taking the lethal hit herself.

"All... the... Uchiha... dead... But... the... last one... only... after... I have..." she looked at Sasuke's eyes while Sasuke watched her terrified as her voice faded and the darkness took her.

Her death had, of course, made both Naruto and Sasuke go berserk which had ensured their victory against Haku. That, of course, didn't matter since Gato was betraying them anyway, but both missing ninjas and Gato's men ended up dead which made the mission end up successful.

To Naruto and Sasuke's relief, Hinata had woken up afterward and was surprisingly hugged by both of them and even carried back to Tazuna's house by them.

They were walking back to Konoha when they were talking about the details of the mission to write their reports when Sasuke suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Hinata, let me see your eyes."

Kakashi rose his head looking curious.

Sasuke stepped in front of her, took her chin and made her watch him.

Hinata flinched involuntarily and blurted more unfriendly than she aimed to: "Don't touch me."

Sasuke took a step back and looked slightly ashamed and muttered a sorry. Hinata apologized as well and wondered out loud why she reacted so strongly.

Naruto looked happy that not all girls liked Sasuke.

Sasuke, however, continued: "After you substituted to the ice dome it really looked like me that there were something strange in your eyes, Hinata..."

Kakashi seemed curious and told Hinata to activate her eyes and she did. Her Byakugan flared normally.

"Did you do anything different from normal during the battle, Hinata?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, I was trying to see the senbon better so I channeled a little more chakra to my eyes... Let's see if I can repeat that."

She directed chakra to her eyes and heard her teammates gasp loudly.

"Maa, maa, it seems Sasuke is not the only one acquiring the Sharingan in this mission", Kakashi told with a singsong voice that didn't fit at all to this situation.

"What. The. Hell. I am a damn Hyūga main family member. There are absolutely no chances that I could have the Sharingan" Hinata almost screamed. This was the end. Her father would kill her this time for sure.

Sasuke seemed annoyed that he wasn't the only one with the ultimate dojutsu. And Hinata, who he had always thought to be weak had two.

Kakashi continued: "And still you have one. We will be taking this to the Hokage and see if he could clear this up at all."

"... so let me sum this up. Sasuke got his Sharingan and Hinata, who is a Hyūga, got one as well?" Third asked clearly amazed. They nodded. "Well. This situation needs a little clearing. I ask you Naruto and you Kakashi to leave for now. This is going to be clan business from now on. Kakashi, would you be so kind to retrieve me a medic and Hyūga Hiashi?"

Hinata went straight to a panic mode: "No no no... Don't tell my father, he is going to kill me for sure!"

"Hinata-san, you are not a chuunin and you are currently under 16-years old, we have an obligation to tell the parents things like this."

Hinata hung her head down in defeat.

The medic and Hyūga Hiashi arrived.

"Hokage-sama, what is so urgent?" he asked balancing effectively being polite and annoyed. He watched both Hinata and Sasuke with his normal scowl. "Hinata. I take it your mission didn't go well?"

"The mission was successful, father, but there were some... complications" she answered looking everywhere else but him.

Hiashi raised his eyebrow.

Third explained situation briefly while the medic scanned Hinata with her chakra. She reported to the Hokage: "It seems that her cells have adapted as a response to an exposure to Uchiha blood. In addition, to her Hyūga traits she has gained the Sharingan and an affinity to fire and also a slightly larger chakra capacity. This will not be affecting her appearance or physical performance. This kind of reaction to blood is very unlikely to happen to anyone so she is a medical miracle. These changes will be hereditary."

Hiashi watched with his mouth open.

Third sighed. "Well, Hinata-san. You must know better than any of us others when could you have been exposed to Uchiha blood..."

Hinata's lower lip trembled and she started crying.

"I... I... never told anyone! I had a friend who was Uchiha and he was my everything. He told me not to tell anyone because our clans were not exactly friendly... He even taught me Uchiha style taijutsu so I could use my flexibility to better my poor Jūken... Then one day I came to the Academy and heard that they all had... died..." her voice faded. "I swore that day that you Sasuke will die only after I have. So that my friend didn't die in vain."

Sasuke stared at her. "So that's why you jumped in front of those senbon."

Third chuckled. "So that's why you insisted getting to this team."

Hiashi looked appalled. "Why this is the first time I am hearing about any of this Hinata?"

Hinata's father didn't kill her to be exact but kept her a long talk about proper things a main house family member should do. Hinata, on the other hand, was busy to think how to train with her new abilities.

As annoyed as Sasuke was, especially when he noticed that Hinata's eyes had full three tomoes and his only two, she had become his unofficial bodyguard and even something like a sister who he was stuck training with.

So they trained their Sharingans together, asking Kakashi help when they needed that. Hinata trained combining her Sharingan with Byakugan and developed her own taijutsu style further.

Sasuke even taught her his trademark Gokakyuu no jutsu, but only after she had taught him more advanced chakra control exercises to upgrade his eyes. He had not still managed to get three tomoes, but his control over the Sharingan had improved a lot which he was pleased about.

It wasn't very long after that when Kakashi told them there were going to be chūnin exams. They already knew that, because Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had bumped in some Suna shinobi who had told them and Sasuke had complained Hinata about that among his usual whine about fangirls and power and how the life sucked in general.

What was surprising about was that Kakashi had signed THEM in the exams. Hinata was stupefied. She had attended the finals many times due to her social status as a Hyūga and thought that this was totally something over their skills. Sasuke and Naruto, however, insisted that they go, so she relented, but not without flawless team strategy.

Their plan relied mostly on keeping their secret powers hidden. No one had seen Sasuke or Hinata using the Sharingan and even fewer had witnessed Naruto using Kyūbi's power (he had been explained his status as a jinchūriki after wave and he had decided to share this with Hinata and Sasuke like they shared info about their dojutsus).

It all was almost blown by a Konoha genin called Yakushi Kabuto, whose info cards seemed to know a little too much. Sasuke, fortunately, managed to burn them with a mid-sized Gokakyu.

The written test went as well as one could imagine; it was a total catastrophe. Luckily Naruto's stubbornness was seen as a strength and not a reason to throw them out so they advanced to the next test.

They had proceeded fine in the Forest of Death. The genin from Ame didn't offer much resistance after they had stepped to their trap and Team 7 had acquired the Earth scroll they needed. They had been continuing straight to the tower when they had lost Naruto.

Now Sasuke and Hinata were fighting a suspiciously strong wind-using Kusa nin. They had both needed to activate the Sharingan only to keep up with her. Hinata saw with her Byakugan that their opponent was not definitely a genin.

"Sasuke, we need Naruto, we cannot fight against her for long."

Sasuke nodded that he had realized this as well. They were both fast but they had already used their ultimate moves so even the power of surprise was not on their side anymore. His battle morale seemed to get low.

So Hinata didn't stop him from trying to form a deal regarding their scrolls.

It was only Naruto, who was clearly under the influence of the Kyūbi to beat some sense back to them. Why indeed would the enemy just leave them after she had got the scroll?

So they advanced together making the Kusa-nin look very pleased.

"Ku ku ku, magnificent, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, Hinata-hime! You have all grown strong indeed! And the hime to acquire Sharingan, could this be _his_ work?"

This enraged Sasuke for some reason and they attacked even more furiously than before.

"Now now, I wish to leave some parting gifts!" He grabbed Naruto's collar and slammed his seal on top of Naruto's Kyūbi seal on his stomach. Naruto fainted immediately.

Hinata, who was collapsed on the nearby branch of the tree they fought on couldn't stop him grabbing her the same way.

"Hime. The Byakugan and the Sharingan in the same package. You could be something great, you know. Oh how I wished to give YOU my seal, but I believe _he_ has given you one already." He dropped her only to proceed to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun. You shall have my gift of power. My name is Orochimaru. Search me if you ever should need more."

Her neck lengthened to bit Sasuke's neck which caused him to scream in pain and lost consciousness. Orochimaru left the place only to leave Hinata trying to get up and trying to find shelter.

She managed to create them a temporary stronghold and trap it like one should in a situation like this. Naruto had been unconscious for hours and Sasuke had a high fever. Her medicinal herbs were not much help so all she could do was wait.

And just like she had feared, a full team from Sound attacked her base only springing one of her simpler traps. She stood out defending her teammates. What she didn't notice was that the whole Konoha 12 was following the situation from the forest.

"Well, well, looks like our mission got very much easier, what you say Kin?" boasted bandaged team member.

"That weak looking girlie is defeated easily enough, and then we shall proceed our task."

Hinata threw some shurikens trying to spring some of her traps to create diversions but the sound team evaded them all.

"It seems that _hime_ here is out of ideas..."

Hinata sighed and took her taijutsu stance.

"You are not touching my teammates as long as I can say anything about it!"

"Now that's more like it! Let us fight already!"

"You know... this fight is you three against just me... I really don't have chances to win if I don't fight to kill. Please retreat now before I take your life."

"Like a girl like you could ever kill me!"

"Very well."

Activating both her dojutsus she proceeded to make the most impressing assassination move of the Uchiha clan style combined with a straight Jūken strike to the heart coil. The boy with air pipes in his arms was dead before he even realized Hinata had moved.

The others proceeded to attack her together but their clear inexperience with Byakugan ended them both dead soon as well.

Other Konoha teams watched terrified how the shyest girl from the Academy killed a whole team of genin under five minutes and was using Uchiha clan dojutsu.

Hinata picked up sound team's Heaven scroll and pocketed it securely. She turned only to see that Sasuke had woken up. His face was full of weird markings and he proceeded like a zombie to Hinata. He took her shoulder.

"Hinata... who did this to you?"

Hinata's reaction was automatic once again.

"Don't touch me!"

Unfortunately, this time, her Byakugan and the Sharingan was on. Sasuke ended up laying on the ground with Hinata's hand on his throat and her staring at him angrily with her Sharingan eyes. Her clear dominance over him, however, seemed to make the markings retreat and clear Sasuke's head.

"Thank you, Hinata..."

"No problem, Sasuke. Now, how we get Naruto up?"

"SASUKE-KUUUUUN! Are you alright?! Did she hurt you?" They were intercepted by screaming Sakura and Ino who came to hassle with Sasuke and see if he was okay. Others seemed to be still in shock after Hinata's performance and her way of handling Sasuke.

Hinata rolled her eyes and went to check Naruto, who was still unconscious but seemed to be waking up.

"Mmmm. Where am I?" Naruto slurred seemingly still dazed.

"We are still in the forest, but I got us both scrolls so we need to proceed to the tower."

"Right."

"Sasuke, will you hold Naruto that side, we need to move."

"Hn."

They leaped out of clearing supporting Naruto quickly and fortunately, got to the tower without further problems.

But of course, as they managed to get to the tower, there were preliminaries. Sasuke managed to win his opponent, but only just. Naruto's battle against Kiba was more like a farce than a battle but he managed to win as well. And now she stood at the arena opposing her cousin Neji.

They had traded a couple of complimentary punches (which with Hyūga was some deadly business too) and showed off some Byakugan but it was clear that Hinata's chakra or her energy wasn't going to be enough against Neji's steel hard prowess.

"Neji-niisan. I wish I could fight you with all my power, but unfortunately, I have come here after fighting Orochimaru.." Senseis gasped. "... and assassinating a whole Sound genin team." Genins gasped, except Gaara who seemed pleased that more people had died.

"My energy or my chakra is not going to be enough against you without accidentally killing you, so I will forfeit and admit you were better today. Show them that a Hyūga can succeed in Academy too, niisan!"

Neji stared at her even harder than he had earlier in the forest. This whole event had radically changed his image of Hinata. He had hated the main family most his life, but seeing that Hinata clearly had not received any special training or treatment to get her strength, he decided to call a truce with her.

"Thank you, Hinata-sama. Let us fight again once you have healed, then."

Hinata was sure she saw a small smile on him. They bowed to each other.

"Winner, Hyūga Neji!"

Hinata rushed to Naruto and Kakashi.

"Hinata-chan, why did you give up?" Naruto whined.

Kakashi nodded her approvingly. "It was a wise decision to know your limits, Hinata."

Hinata looked a little down. "Sensei, are you disappointed that I killed the team Sound?"

"Mmm? There is no reason to be disappointed, Hinata, taking a life is part of life as a ninja and sometimes it is even necessary" Kakashi explained.

"Young Hinata! Your burning fires of youth had flamed young Neji's youth to unmeasured readings! I must thank you for that!" the Lee's sensei, Maito Gai they already saw before exams appeared next to Kakashi.

"He means that Neji is less grumpy than before your battle", explained a girl with two buns who told them her name was Tenten.

Neji grunted very Sasuke-like.

The month before the exams went fast. Hinata helped both her teammates (and Neji-niisan) however she could. Moving at public places was hard since Gaara had taken her as his next kill and she needed to run away from him constantly.

The exam finals had proceeded normally; she had been required to sit with the Hyūga instead of Konoha 12 which annoyed her to no end. In addition Kakashi and Sasuke had been fatally late and Sasuke's battle was just about to begin.

Neji had lost to Naruto but had brought honor to the Hyūga by fighting gloriously. Hinata had screamed the whole time cheers to the both of them, which had made the Hyūga elders scowl. Apparently main family member should not have cheered branch member. Or jinchūriki.

Sasuke's battle against Gaara had totally gone out of hand when the invasion started. After Sasuke had rushed after Gaara, Hinata's father tried to deny Hinata going after Sasuke. With no results of course. Didn't he understand that this was the whole purpose of her life? Well, of course not, he had never understood Hinata at all.

She flashed her Sharingan eyes as she ran after Sasuke grabbing Naruto with her as her way.

They had managed to stop the destruction mainly because of Naruto's new summoning ability. The invasion had however required victims; the Third had died which had shocked Naruto very much.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had managed to make his curse seal problem worse, which Hinata started to be very worried about. He had also created a massive annoyance to Hinata's protectiveness and wanted to train alone most of the time.

Hinata had decided to train with her family for a while since Jiraiya had taken Naruto to a training trip to find Senju Tsunade. She was on her way to the Hyūga compound when she heard that Kakashi-sensei had been attacked so she rushed right away to the hospital.

She bumped on her way there to Sasuke, who seemed completely enraged by something and was clearly rushing out of the village.

"Where are you going Sasuke? I heard that Kakashi-sensei is in the hospital, we should go visit him."

"None of your business. Go away and don't even think about following me Hyūga!"

"No can do. You are ALWAYS managing to get yourself killed without me and I can't have that, Uchiha."

"Hn. This is something I need to do alone."

"You said the same thing about lunch last week! If you don't let me come, I will bind myself to your leg and slow you down the whole way."

"Tch. Whatever. Do whatever you wish. Just don't be on my way!"

"Thank you, Sasuke!"

Some time after that near Tanzaku town Naruto was waiting for Jiraiya at their inn. He had taken all his money and ran after some woman telling him to wait. He had just jumped to his bed trying to start to meditate when he heard a knock at the door of his room. He curiously went to open it and saw two Sharingan eyes staring down at him.

Naruto didn't know the man, but his resemblance to Sasuke was obvious. The Sharingan eyes, his black hair, fair skin, and his face was like older Sasuke's. He spoke to him under his black cloak decorated with red clouds.

"You need to come with us, Naruto-kun.."

To be honest, the strangers clearly were much more powerful than him so he could only comply and step in the hallway. The black-haired stranger gave him space and was about to raise his hand, probably to ensure that Naruto didn't try anything when they heard not so obscure sounds away from the corner.

"Don't touch me, Uchiha!"

An unmistakeable sound of someone crashing against floor followed the shout which couldn't come from anyone else than Hyūga Hinata.

"No one forced you to follow me, Hyūga!"

Sounds of someone standing up and nearing steps. Even Naruto in all his obviousness had to facepalm. They weren't smooth at all. Sasuke appeared behind the corner and froze immediately from rage.

"Uchiha Itachi. I will kill you!"

He activated his Sharingan and was about to charge when Hinata appeared next to him and held him back.

"This is why I was coming with you Sasuke! Reckless actions like that will get you only killed. Seriously, what would you do at all without..." she scolded.

She turned her head to the hallway where Naruto and the cloaked men stood.

"Oh my God.. You are alive... _Itachi..._ "

Itachi's eyes moved now completely on Hinata. His partner, a big shark-like man with a giant sword on his back opened his mouth.

"Do you know these brats, Itachi? I am guessing the boy is your brother but why the girl is here beats me."

Itachi didn't seem to hear that since his attention was on the Hyūga.

Hinata started right away to advance towards Itachi which he allowed.

"Itachi, Itachi, Itachi... You were dead... I cried so many nights..."

She managed to reach him and climbed right away on his lap hugging him close. He didn't resist. Sasuke had never looked this terrified or shocked.

"My life had no purpose... I have only lived these five years to stop Sasuke from getting himself killed..."

She didn't think anything at all. Itachi had completely filled all her senses and she was reacting instinctively. Something similar was happening to Itachi.

Hinata began to push her cheek to his and caress their noses together. There was still no resistance from him.

"But you are alive... I am so happy Itachi... You are here now..."

"Hinata..."

It was unclear when had they started kissing but they had and this time, Itachi not only allowed this but also participated fully. All the others observed the scene with blatant disbelief.

The shark-man cleared his throat.

"Ahem... Itachi... The mission..."

That shook both Itachi and Hinata back to reality. He, however, kept his hands on her hips.

"Right."

Hinata turned her gaze to the shark man.

"Mister, are you a friend of Itachi's?"

"A colleague. Hoshigaki Kisame on your service, hime."

"Very well, Hoshigaki-san. I am Hyūga Hinata."

Sasuke, however, looked about to explode.

"I don't know what the hell is going on here but you Itachi will die today!"

He charged with his Sharingan active.

Itachi was about to react when he noticed Hinata's eyes flash red before turning to face Sasuke.

"You will not touch him, Sasuke."

She walked slowly to him, grabbing his collar and shoved him against the wall. Her Sharingan eyes transformed forming a weird pattern.

"Do you understand, Sasuke?"

Sasuke grunted grudgingly. At that moment, Jiraiya arrived. Sasuke lost his conscious from the lack of oxygen.

"Kisame. We need to leave", Itachi announced with a neutral tone.

"Yes. Too bad you need to leave your little girlfriend."

"She is not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say."

The both cloaked figures vanished.

Hinata seemed to sober up and realize what she had done to Sasuke. Her eyes had completely tired her out and she fainted as well.

"Naruto, what on Earth happened here?" asked Jiraiya who tried desperately put all the pieces together.

"Ero-sennin, it's kinda long story..." Naruto answered till in shock seeing Hinata act the way she had.

They were interrupted by the Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Hinata woke up in the hospital screaming Itachi's name.

"ITACHI! Where is he? I need him! He is alive! ALIVE!"

She struggled against the bonds she had been tied with to the hospital bed.

"Hinata! Calm yourself down! Things will be explained if you just relax a little."

It was Neji. He had always a reason to do things. He took her hand and squeezed gently. Hinata calmed down and observed her environment.

In the room were her father, Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Jiraiya, Kakashi-sensei and a blonde-haired medic nin with a large chest.

The blonde talked first: "Hinata-san. My name is Tsunade and I am the Godaime Hokage. I believe there are some things that need to be cleared on both sides."

Tsunade sighed.

"Your teammates already told us what happened in that inn. You are currently charged of attacking your teammate, but from their stories I have concluded that you are not aware of some things."

Hinata watched her curiously.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are S-rank criminals and missing ninjas. Kisame is from Kiri while Itachi is from Konoha, charged of murdering the entire Uchiha clan."

Hinata's eyes widened: "No... no... Itachi would never do such thing! I don't believe it!"

"That is how the evidence says."

Sasuke spoke next. "Hinata, I was there when he... killed my parents."

Hinata gasped and looked down.

Tsunade continued. "Now, I believe we can clear the charges due to a misunderstanding. Your relationship with Itachi and your Sharingan, however, needs some explanations. I suggest you tell everything and be honest, Hinata."

"Just before the massacre, Itachi told me he wanted to protect me even if he weren't there..." She didn't know how to explain it so she lowered her shirt and channeled some chakra to her seal so it appeared to her skin.

Others didn't seem to know what it was but Sasuke gasped loudly. Tsunade asked Sasuke to explain.

"That is the strictest of the Uchiha marriage seals. It cannot be removed and it binds users until they die. Who even performed that one on you, Hinata? It is very complex. It is a near miracle you have managed to stay this sane this far from each other."

"Itachi... He used his free hand to perform the seal. But I didn't know it was a marriage seal... Orochimaru somehow seemed to know about this, though. It protected me from the curse seal."

Jiraiya as a seal master listened in awe: "Unbelievable! He truly is a genius. To perform such a seal and to be part of it... So, he spoke the truth when he said you are not his girlfriend after all..."

Hiashi didn't seem to be happy: "What do you mean my daughter has been married since she was _eight.._.? And to an international criminal..."

"We don't know what her legal status in Konoha is yet. SHIZUNE!"

A black-haired woman on the door rushed to search info about it.

"Now, Hinata, about your Sharingan. How long have you been able to activate the Mangekyō?"

Hinata hadn't been aware of her ability. Turned out that it had been activated due to her trauma of losing her mother, feeling responsible to the death of Hyūga Hizashi and the grief of losing Itachi.

Shizune had come back with relevant documents that she handed to Tsunade. She read them before announcing:

"Uchiha Hinata. Congratulations, you are legally married to Uchiha Itachi and thus officially one of two Uchiha massacre survivors. As your marriage had been somehow accepted before the massacre, you were the wife of the heir which makes you the next clan head. I, however, would advise you and Sasuke to talk about this again once either of you reaches the rank of chūnin..."

Hinata couldn't believe her ears: "This is so twisted."

Sasuke agreed wholeheartedly: "Hn."

So due to the circumstances she had been pressured to move to the Uchiha compound. It was obvious that the things between her and Sasuke were beyond awkward; After releasing from the hospital he had showed her new apartment, Uchiha training grounds, and her new clothes (because apparently it was physically impossible to be Uchiha without the fan emblem). After that, however, he had vanished quickly to train alone.

She believed firmly that there was an another side to the massacre concerning Itachi, so she had started to wear his old clothes and even begun to grow her hair out to a similar ponytail.

Her father wasn't happy about that but after the update to her legal status, he could do nothing to stop her.

The last tick to the situation was when Sasuke had decided to leave Konoha. Hinata had been there to witness his pathetic conversation with Haruno Sakura and decided not to try to talk him out of it herself.

Sakura had already tried and failed plus Sasuke had surely known Hinata had been present, so what talking him would have changed?

So she ended up carrying Sakura to the hospital and alarm Tsunade, who assigned a retrieval mission, which ended up failing and bringing most of their friends to the hospital.


	3. Part 3 – Our critical moments

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby.**

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Part 3 – Our critical moments

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The life in Konoha continued nearly the same as before. As Sasuke had defected and Naruto left to a three-year training trip with Jiraiya, Hinata had started to train her Mangekyō Sharingan with Kakashi, who also trained his.

She had made Kakashi an honorary member of the Uchiha clan to get him access to Uchiha archives concerning the Sharingan. She had also found a very effective style for kenjutsu from the archives.

She had taken over the duties of clan head after her promotion to chūnin in the next chūnin exams. Her good connections to most clans and Hyūga branch members made her very popular in the field. She had started to renovate the Uchiha compound and rent the apartments to Kyūbi orphans reaching adulthood with very reasonable prices, which had led her becoming extremely popular in the civilian council as well.

So now, after three years she was one of the known persons in the village beside the Hokage. She had her own bingo book entry in all of the Elemental Nations nicknaming her as Uchiha 'Sharingan Princess' Hinata.

Her attire still consisted of clothes resembling Itachi's and her now long hair was in a loose ponytail. The difference was a katana hanging on her waist. The girls of Konoha 12 were disappointed that she had chosen such a boyish style but they couldn't deny it fitted her status as a powerful Uchiha clan head.

She was walking through marketplace after a shopping trip with Neji. He had become so good friend with Hinata, that he had moved to the Uchiha compound so Hinata didn't need to be alone so much. He himself claimed he did it because of his personal promise to stay as her protector even after her marriage, but Hinata knew there was more. She was very grateful that she had such a cousin.

They had walked past Ichiraku ramen when they noticed Sakura who was beating up someone.

"Do you guys do anything else than your perverted techniques!?"

"Ne, Sakura-chan..."

It was Naruto. Hinata's eyes widened. She pushed Sakura away so she could hug Naruto.

"Naruto! I have missed you so much!"

"Hinata! You have grown up and your hair is long! I have so many stories I wish to tell you before we go and get the Teme back! Dattebayo! Ne, ne, let's go see Tsunade right away! Yo, Neji!"

he shouted enthusiastically, grabbed Hinata's arm and started to drag her to the Hokage building. Neji and Sakura followed.

"WHO DARES TO DISTURB ME!"

Well, it seemed that Hokage had one of her not-so-good days. Hinata sighed and stepped forward. She, however, didn't get to talk when Naruto rushed past her.

"BAA-CHAN!"

"BRAT! How was your training trip? I hope the pervert didn't ruin you too much."

"It was great! I am super-strong now! You can promote me straight to the jōnin!"

Tsunade exploded laughing.

"Sorry brat but, you just have to take the chūnin exam like everyone else."

"NANI? Everyone else is chūnin already?"

Neji decided to be helpful: "Actually, no, I and Hinata-sama are jōnin, others are chūnin. Hinata-sama should serve in ANBU right now if there weren't obligations as a clan head."

"Wow, Hinata! Congratulations!"

Kakashi decided to appear at the window at that moment.

"Yo, Naruto! Long time no see."

"Sensei! Oh, now I remember that I have something for you..."

It turned out to be newest Icha Icha. Sakura immediately wanted to burn it but Hinata stopped her as she wanted her honorary clansmen happy. Even if they were perverts.

The whole ordeal was interrupted when news of the kidnapping of the Kazekage arrived. The ones present were sent to a rescue mission with Neji and Team Guy.

All of the members of the Akatsuki they just HAD to send Itachi and Kisame to slow them down.

"Hey, isn't it Itachi's little girlfriend! Yo, Hinata!" Kisame greeted with false cheeriness.

"Kisame-san. What a pleasure to meet again. And I am not his girlfriend."

"Yes. It is brutally clear by looking at your new name at the bingo books, Princess. You start to resemble Itachi way too much, it's like looking twins..."

Their chat was interrupted as Team Gai attacked Kisame leaving Itachi against team Kakashi and Chiyo.

"Well, Hinata, do you wish to greet your husband first, or?" Kakashi asked playfully.

Everyone deadpanned. It was clear both of them were much better prepared to this meeting than last time. Hinata fiddled the handle of her katana.

"Yes. Itachi. Can you imagine my surprise when I hear after our last meeting that you are an international criminal? It was almost harder than see you die. After Sasuke left I had nothing."

He watched her impassively not saying anything.

Hinata activated her dojutsus to prevent him using genjutsu.

"I loved you Itachi. I still love you, but in my world love is not everything anymore. My loyalty to my village and my obligations to my clansmen are. She glanced at Neji and Kakashi. I will do my duty as a clan head and a shinobi of Konoha. You will die today."

She attacked drawing her katana, which Itachi blocked with a kunai. She attacked relentlessly forcing him to block and evade, slowly cornering him with her moves.

"You have become very strong, Hinata", he complimented.

She noticed an opening and drove her sword his stomach without hesitation. The wound bled viciously. Team Kakashi stared at Hinata's skills and bravery.

"This shouldn't have been this easy. Yes. That wasn't really Itachi, only 40% of his power" Hinata analyzed as she dropped the body of some random sand shinobi to the ground.

"Are you okay, Hinata? You practically killed your husband just now. Whoever he was, it is always a hard task."

"I am okay, relieved, in fact. Now, let's go save Gaara."

They had managed to save Gaara, and Sakura got a chance to shine by killing Akasuna no Sasori. Chiyo had given her life to revive the Kazekage who had been surprised to see everyone around him when he woke up.

After arriving Konoha they had right away used the tip Sasori had given to Sakura and left to meet his spy. As Kakashi was in the hospital because of using his Kamui too much, a wood-using ninja, Yamato was added to their team in addition to a socially retarded ninja Sai.

They had managed to reach the Orochimaru's hideout with Naruto destroying half the forest because of using Kyūbi's power too much. And now they stood on a massive crater and watching Sasuke standing on the edge.

He had grown to be a very handsome man. It was a pity his beautiful face was expressing such a scowl. Hinata voiced his opinion out loud. Anyone else didn't have time to react when Sasuke already was in front of her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!"

Hinata hit a powerful uppercut which sent Sasuke flying. Sasuke glared angrily at her but their friendly violence was interrupted by Orochimaru.

"Well, well, isn't it Hinata-hime. I always knew you had a lot of potential. It's such a shame _he_ found you first."

"If by _him_ you mean my dear husband, then yes, his mistakes had protected me from much harm. It is such a pity I already killed him."

Sasuke's scowl transformed into a terror: "You didn't."

"Oh yes. But worry not, he didn't die... yet. Sasuke. We miss you in Konoha. It's not too late to come home."

He scowled as Orochimaru and Kabuto shunshined them away.

As they got back to Konoha, Naruto had started a new training right away and by looking at him Hinata could say that he was aiming to be stronger than anyone ever. Hinata had tried to reason with him and say that she could handle Sasuke instead of him, but Naruto had explained that this was something he personally needed to do for a friend.

As much as Hinata had done to Sasuke, she had always seen him more as her duty and a teammate than someone she herself had strong feelings for. So she decided to honor Naruto's decision and let him handle Sasuke. Sakura had clearly taken a liking to Naruto as she brought him her home-made food pills.

What she didn't know at all was her situation with Itachi. Her killing his clone had left their situation open and she honestly didn't know what would she do if they met again. One thing she was sure; she couldn't make herself kill him again.

Her worries turned out well-grounded when Tsunade assigned them to a mission to capture Itachi in the hope of reaching Sasuke. As sick as it was to assign Hinata to this mission, she was the only one of them who could use Sharingan without over exhausting herself so there were not many alternatives.

So they were blindly searching for him in the middle of nowhere. They had been at it already for twelve hours when Hinata heard voices. Naruto. She advanced through forest fast only to witness a big crow going inside Naruto's mouth. Naruto fainted. _Itachi... what are you doing?_

Hinata activated her Byakugan immediately only to realize that Itachi stood right behind her back. She turned slowly to face him.

"What was that, Itachi?"

"Mm? No killing moves this time?"

Hinata was furious. How dare he talk her like that after _everything._ She narrowed her eyes.

"I was doing my duty. What did you do to Naruto? There is something off about this criminal scheme of yours..."

He caressed her cheek moving to her chin and raising it to make her look at him.

"It's like looking in the mirror... We are so similar it hurts, Hinata."

Hinata understood that look all too well. There were loneliness and self-created suffering. She melted.

They ended up kissing again. This time, however, there were no one interrupting. Some innocent kissing lead to some less innocent kissing. Which lead to him taking her against a tree.

It felt so _good._ She didn't honestly know if it was because of the seal or was it because she had always known the Itachi was the only one for her, but intimacy and gentleness from him were things she had unknowingly craved for a long time.

"Hinata... I believe this was not a wise decision for anyone..." he said to her as they sat side by side under that tree.

"I don't care. We needed to do this."

Itachi grunted in agreement.

"Itachi... You should go."

He looked at her questionably.

"I know I shouldn't let you go but you have some stuff to do, right? Go do them. But please, once you are ready, find me, I cannot take it alone anymore."

Itachi didn't exactly answer but he didn't deny anything either. He left after giving Hinata a surprisingly tender kiss.

When Hinata find herself back to the camp, Naruto had already found his way back. There was another surprise too; Team Asuma had bumped in Sasuke and his team on their way to intercept Itachi and managed to catch him. Sasuke sat in the house Yamato had built wearing chakra suppressors and looking extremely grumpy.

Naruto, on the other hand, looked extremely happy. Hinata was in her own world and thinking about Itachi. How would things turn out when Sasuke was back in Konoha?

Sasuke's trial was kept as soon as they arrived. Sasuke had been surprised to notice Hinata announcing that Uchiha clan disqualifies itself from this case. She had however kept a motivational speech of how she personally was ready to give him a second chance and how he was more than welcome to serve the clan again if he proves his absolute loyalty to the village.

Sasuke seemed to be surprised how much value the council gave to her words. The idea of staying didn't suddenly seem so repulsive. The Uchiha had become a liked word during her leadership for the first time in history.

So he had swore his allegiances to Konoha and additionally to Hinata, but kept himself right to deal with Itachi if he ever crosses his path. So he ended up in a year-long propabation and confinement to the village.

He had moved to the Uchiha compound only to find it full of life; there were families, civilians and ninjas walking on the streets and enjoying their lives. He knew of course they were not Uchiha, but seeing the compound alive again rose a smile on his lips.

It took a month in which Naruto had finished his Rasenshuriken. Konoha had received information about Jiraiya's death and Naruto was moved to the Mount Myōboku to train sage arts. Hinata and Sasuke had spent their time in the Uchiha archives and training.

They had been training like they normally do when Hinata suddenly had fainted. Sasuke had taken her to the hospital only to hear after careful examination that she was pregnant.

"Hinata. This is a question which usually is not this much importance, but knowing your situation... Who is the father?" Tsunade interrogated her after examination. Sasuke, who had been as a support looked at her with interest.

Hinata bit her lip.

"It is Itachi. I believe the seal makes it impossible to be anyone else. I... I bumped into him and things kind of just happened."

Tsunade sighed: "It will be hard to raise a child alone and you are only sixteen, Hinata. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

Hinata nodded. Of course, she was young and this wasn't wise but this was a right decision. She touched her stomach.

"What do you think about this Sasuke?"

"I am not... happy... about that this child is... his. But I am happy _you_ are giving me a family again. I wish to help to protect it any way I can."

"Thank you, Sasuke."

Telling her father and Neji had been extremely awkward matter. Newly found protectiveness combined to the Hyuga pride didn't go well with her current situation. Luckily Sasuke had been there and guided her away so that things could calm down. It took three days when her father had appeared to the Uchiha compound and apologized.

As the pregnancy progressed and became showing, most of the civilians thought that the child's father was Sasuke due to his constant presence near her. Sasuke couldn't care less. Hinata thought that they would give Sasuke hard time about that, but turned out their attitude towards him was friendly, and they thought that it was a very gentlemanly thing to do to help her with her pregnancy.

On their free time, they had taken a project to clean up the archives. Since she already was five months pregnant, they had already cleared a big part of archives. They were undergoing the fresher part of hidden documents of the clan meetings when Sasuke suddenly raised his head.

"Hinata... This one tells something I have not been aware of. It's something about a coup d'état."

Hinata seemed interested. They studied some more.

"This one says to not to trust Itachi and that he was Konoha's spy. But wasn't he like 13 then? It looks like my cousin Shisui was believed to be a spy as well" wondered Sasuke when he had gone through a pile of documents.

"He was an ANBU still. He once carried me home wearing his uniform and the Hyuga never found out it was him. It seems he had kind of fucked up life."

Sasuke nodded: "We need to go see ANBU archives about this. There is something wrong with this situation. I clearly remember Itachi was the one to murder Shisui before the massacre. Why would he do that if they were on the same side?"

So they went. And of course, all the information concerning Uchiha Itachi was hidden. They needed to take this to the Hokage.

So they took it. Tsunade seemed very interested in this information and ordered Shizune bring them all the files concerning Uchiha Itachi.

"Oh my God. This is unbelievable!" she shouted after reading one specific file.

"What is it? Tell us, it can't be worse what we already have experienced", pleaded Hinata.

"So one would think. Now, listen to this. This says that the Uchiha massacre was ordered by the elders as a countermeasure to the coup. But that is not all. This document says that he still is on a completely legal S-rank infiltration mission to the Akatsuki, waiting for a signal to retreat. How can this kind of information be forgotten?"

Hinata and Sasuke stared: "Oh. My. God."

"These things shouldn't happen. There is something funny going on at the elder council. But I will take care of that. I will send him an order to come home right away."

Hinata and Sasuke walked to the compound like zombies.


	4. Part 4 – Coming home

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby.**

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Part 4 – Coming home

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About three weeks of the revelation, Hinata had been doing her daily activities and preparing lunch for herself and Neji when she heard a knock on the door. She was quite sure it was Sasuke – he sometimes liked to invite himself to lunch because he really liked Hinata's cooking and Hinata thought today would not be an exception.

She walked to the door as fast as she could with her growing belly and opened the door.

"Sasuke, I'm not preparing any tomatoes today you may..."

It wasn't Sasuke. It was Itachi. On his knees. At her door. Her eyes widened from shock. She knew that this day would come but not this soon. Or without warning.

She watched him from head to toe. He was wearing a standard jōnin uniform of Konoha. It was weird seeing him in that. He was patiently waiting for her to react.

She snapped out of her thoughts and the first instinct was to hug him. He, however, raised his hand to stop her.

"I need to say some things first, Hinata"

"Itachi..."

She signed him to come in and he stood up to walk behind her to her living room.

"Hinata. I honestly don't know where would be best to start. I have been a ninja as long as I can remember. I made my first kill when I was six and the only purpose in life was to serve my village. Before I met you at eleven, that is."

He sighed.

"I honestly loved every single moment with you even then. I felt it was like a heaven's way to make amends with my miserable life. I admit I became much more obsessed with you than I should have. Then the hardships regarding the clan started. My only goal was to protect Sasuke, but you were the only one who could occasionally make me forget the stress."

He looked her in the eyes.

"I admit I was selfish when we created the seal. I wanted it all; peace to the village and you to be mine alone. I justified it to myself by saying that I did that to give you a freedom from your father or some extra protection. Both could have been achieved with different methods."

He took a sip from a teacup Hinata had given to him.

"So my Akatsuki mission started. I had shown Sasuke some disturbing stuff to ensure his loyalty to the village and not me. I managed to play a villain so well I got the duty of capturing Uzumaki Naruto, which might be the only reason he is still safe. I have done very disturbing things as a criminal but protecting our jinchūriki was my main objective which was reached and my mission was successful."

"What I totally failed was you. When we first saw after the massacre I was so proud. You were so grown up and strong and wielding the Sharingan, a thing I never anticipated. And you told me you have been protecting Sasuke as well. In my eyes you were perfect."

"The second time I was even prouder, but sad at the same time. You actually gave me a lethal strike with your katana. You talked about duty – just like I had younger. It was like looking the mirror and I'm not talking about your appearance."

"The last time we saw was supposed to be the last ever. Things weren't supposed to go that far they went – I only wanted to see you last time before I let Sasuke kill me and bring the peace to the Konoha. But he was caught and what I recall from Tsunade, he has been happy here, now that the compound is full of life and he feels he has a family to protect. I am eternally grateful to you for that."

He went on his knees again.

"Now, I completely understand that I have no right to ask you anything. I have bound you to myself without your consent, forced you to the years of loneliness and even gotten you pregnant with my baby without being there to help. I beg you that you let me be part of your life again. I will be anything you want; your husband, your friend or even your servant and a bodyguard, but just let me be there. I love you Hinata and from this day on I will dedicate my life only to you."

He seemed to stop and lowered his gaze. Hinata watched at him her mouth open. She rushed to hug him tightly.

"Itachi... I have forgiven anything you think you have done long ago. This seal – as twisted my life has been with it – has given me a chance to a life of my own and it protected me against Orochimaru and his curse seal. I never got the chance to save the Hyuga, but I have managed to change the Uchiha. And even without the seal, I couldn't image my life with anyone but you. It was always you, ever since we met. And nothing makes me happier than thought that you are permanently back here for me and our daughter..."

His eyes widened and he reached Hinata's belly.

"May I?"

Hinata nodded and watched him curiously trying to feel his daughter through her skin.

"She is usually more active at nights, Itachi. I usually think she is sleeping during the day."

There was a rare smile on his face.

"You are so beautiful, Hinata. And I am sure our daughter will be too."

"You are not the only one thinking that. Sasuke and Neji had been planning the ways to scare off her fanboys already."

A thought of fanboys brought a scowl to Itachi's face. Maybe he was more possessive he let on after all.

There was a knock on the door and Hinata walked to open it. There were Sasuke and Neji, right at the time for lunch. She let them in only them to notice Itachi in the living room. It wasn't long when they had pushed him to the wall with murderous expressions on their face.

"What do you think you are doing here after you did to Hinata!?"

Hinata intercepted them, however.

"Back off from my husband. We have talked things through and he will be there in the future so you two will behave."

They clenched their fists but said nothing.

Hinata smiled sweetly and said: "Now Itachi, you maybe should tell the main points."

It was her eighth month when Pein attacked the village. She was watching Naruto fighting him from the edge of the crater Pein had created. Her teammate had become truly strong. They all had, but watching Naruto was something amazing.

He, however, was not enough against the Rinnegan. He got restricted with black poles and it felt like all the hope was lost. For a moment she wished she wasn't pregnant so she could go there and help – but what could she have done anyway?

It was a surprise to everyone that it was _Sakura_ who had stepped between Pein and Naruto and saved the day. She had truly matured from that pathetic girl from the Academy to a strong kunoichi who protected her friends no matter what.

It didn't take long to Sasuke join her and free Naruto. The three looked really good together. Like the new Sannin. They defeated Pein together and helped Naruto to find Peins real body and revive the dead. There was a massive celebration after that, but Itachi brought Hinata soon after that home to rest.

After that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had been sent to hunt down the true leader of Akatsuki, before he could start a war. They had succeeded with the help of Uchiha Shisui's eye and Nagato's friend Konan – Sasuke had even managed to come back to witness his niece's birth.

It was the happiest day for the both Uchiha and the Hyuga for a long time. Uchiha Hisana was a beautiful baby – she looked just like Itachi, with pearly Hyūga eyes. Even the usually stoic Hiashi was completely sold when he looked little Hisana's eyes for the first time.

Being a father seemed to be something Itachi really wanted to do so he stayed at home taking care of the baby while Hinata continued her ninja duties mainly on the clan council. She worked long days with the Hokage to clear Itachi's name and investigate the events among the elders.

The new Sannin were doing mission after another – even if Akatsuki had been hunted down, there were always conflict to handle and work to do. Even Sakura had given up searching a boyfriend and focused on her training and her friends right now.

As happy as Hinata seemed to her life, the whole Konoha 12 had realized while watching her that they were still teenagers and while the life of a ninja was short, rushing things that didn't feel natural didn't help anything.

So now, when Hinata was seventeen, a clan head, a wife and a fresh mother, her life was challenging, but she wouldn't give up and she wouldn't have it any other way. She and Itachi had a lifelong mission to make a better life for their daughter after all.


End file.
